Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu, a former CEO of Ghana’s Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC)’s 10-year prison sentence has been overturned by the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court acquitted and discharged her, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
The Court of Appeal on Thursday morning (July 30, 2026) unanimously acquitted and discharged Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, quashing her earlier conviction and 10-year sentence
In a 94-page judgement, the court held that the trial judge lost sight of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against her beyond reasonable doubt.
The court also faulted the manner in which the prosecution handled the case.
Full reasoning for the decision is expected to be available by close of day.
Mrs Tamakloe Attionu, who served as MASLOC CEO from November 2013 to January 2017, was arraigned before the High Court Financial Division on January 30, 2019 on 78 counts spanning conspiracy to steal, stealing, causing financial loss to the State, causing loss to public property, improper payment of public funds, unauthorised commitment resulting in financial obligation to the Government, money laundering and breach of the Public Procurement Act.
The offences were said to have been committed between 2013 and 2016.
She left Ghana in 2019 after obtaining court permission to travel abroad for a medical check-up but did not return to continue with her trial.Ghana economic reports
She was convicted on multiple counts of financial crime in absentia.
She was extradited from the United States to Ghana on June 9, 2026, the first such extradition between the two countries since 2009.
Return to Ghana
She landed in Ghana on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, and was taken into custody.
She returned after her lawyers filed a written submission before the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, Accra, urging the appellate court to set aside her conviction and acquit her on all charges, arguing that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and that the charge sheet on which she was convicted was fundamentally defective.